Author Archives: Rodney

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It’s kind of strange, when you think about it, that vending machines don’t sell just about everything. They’re mostly used for snacks of course, But why couldn’t they sell… I don’t know, hats? Or cat food? Or cheap paperback novels? If you go to certain places in the world, however, you might just stumble across a vending machine that catches your eye for being a bit strange. A bit quirky. A bit full of utterly mad products. Here are some examples:

Live Crabs: A vending machine perfect for when you’re feeling lonely in Nanjing, China and want an instant crustacean pal to keep you company. The machine is kept at a cool temperature which keeps the crabs alive but in docile hibernation. If a dead one is spat out to you, you’re compensated with three live ones! Jackpot!

Holy Water: This is believed by historians to be the oldest vending machine in the world, dating back to the 1st century. The idea of holy water is slightly cheapened by the idea that it can just be dispensed from a rudimentary machine by pulling a lever, rather than being given to you by a human being with a claimed profound connection with God. The machine was invented because people were taking more holy water than they were paying for, which seems a cynical way for a religious organisation to operate. But it’s no use getting angry about something that happened 1,900 years ago, give or take a day.

Shoelaces: This machine was in use sometimes in America sometime in the 1940s, and that’s pretty much all we know about it. Inexplicably, it’s shaped like a lighthouse. What’s the connection between a lighthouse and shoelaces or a shoelace vending machine? We don’t know. That’s the most unbelievably dull product a vending machine could offer you. Still, for fans of shoelaces and lighthouses and literally nothing else, the 1940s were a golden decade.

Gold: GOLD. Would it surprise you if I told you that one of these machines was situated in the lobby of the decadent Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi? This is absolutely perfect if you’re disgustingly, nauseatingly rich, and you’re swishing around the lobby of your hotel and you realise you don’t have any gold on you. This would also make being a swashbuckling pirate with a parrot and a peg leg so much easier.

Crack Pipes: Seriously. These have been put in place in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood to stop people from using old ones that might shatter and slice the user open and allow disease to spread. A noble medical goal, but it will take a lot for me to get over the idea of a vending machine in the civilised world that dispenses crack pipes, of all things. I’m not what’s worse- this one, or the gold one. The gold one, probably. At least this crack pipe one has a reason to exist…

October 13, 2016

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Honor snack boxes are an exciting twist on the chunky, mechanical vending machine. They’re delightfully simple and optimistic, and when placed in the right places are really generating fine income. The honor snack box is what it sounds like – boxes of snacks that work on the honor system. People are allowed to take whatever food they like, and they are encouraged to pay by their decent consciences. You might be surprised at how decent most human beings actually are. Of course, there will be the odd one who just wants to scavenge free food, but most people will appreciate the trust and convenience of the honor box and compensate you for the amount of food they take.

Anyone can pick up a few honor snack boxes and make money off of them. OK, you’re unlikely to be buying a mansion off your honor box proceeds, but you’ll pick up a welcome form of supplementary income that could mean you can, for example, make a few more important payments and supplement your main vending route. There’s a strong market for them as well, as they fill an overlooked hole in the current vending market. For some places, bringing in a full vending machine would be unwieldy and impractical. There simply would not be enough people passing by it every day to justify its existence, or there just is not enough space. This is where the honor snack box comes into its own; its more compact size is just right for satisfying the snack cravings of a small group of employees or customers.

To get the most out of your honor snack box, you’ll want to find the best places to place them, and an effective way to do that is by employing an honor snack box locator. They will use well-placed phone calls as well as good old fashioned human to human contact to find places that are willing to stock the boxes and will guarantee a good flow of people who want to use them. The one thing we would say about using an honor box locator is to make sure you don’t pay up front for their services. Find a vending and honor box locator that proves themselves before you pay, that they can deliver on their promises to get your honor boxes in all the right places. If paid in advance, there’s no guarantee you’ll get a service that matches the fee.

When you’re hungry at work and want tasty treats at a reasonable price, an honor snack box is an absolute blessing. Their humble appearance is part of their overall charm; they’re honest, straight forward ways of selling a product, and they could make you a tidy sum. They speak to a real decency in the human spirit, thriving on the idea that people are essentially good, and that makes it a genuinely refreshing way to make some extra income. Order a couple of boxes, and see what the honor snack box can do for you!

August 14, 2015

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Who Should I Choose to Locate My Vending Machines?

It seems like a hard question to answer. After all, your business is (or will hopefully become) your livelihood. You wouldn’t want to trust just any brokerage with investing your money and assets, and this situation is no different. You have vending machines that you have purchased with your own money. You have put time, effort, and elbow grease into this and you want to be sure that your future or current business is in amazingly good hands.

When we throw around terms like “The Best Vending Machine Locators in the Country”, we don’t do so lightly. If you do a quick search on Google for “Vending Locators”, do you know what you will find near the top of the search results? You will see one of a few things: Companies with great reputations and companies that have a large advertising budget. We are not saying that the two cannot go hand in hand, but at present (in the current industry) they seem to be mutually exclusive.

Next try a search for “Vending Locator Scams” or something similar. You will find a good bit of complaints from unsatisfied customers. The one thing you won’t find is a bad review for us here at VendingLocator4U. The reason is our outstanding customer service. We take being a vending locator seriously. Your success becomes our success. We have amazing pricing and warranties on our bulk vending locations and in doing so we hope to earn your business. Furthermore, we would like to keep it and have you return to us for all your locating needs. Could we overcharge and demand money upfront? We could but it would sacrifice what we stand for as a company and we would not stand out from the crowd.

Notice that I said earn your business earlier? This is not a sales pitch. At VendingLocator4U we don’t believe we have to sell you on our services. Our pricing is affordable and we don’t ask for a single penny upfront before we start locating for your machines. You don’t pay us anything until the machine is placed. If you aren’t happy with the location, we offer amazing warranties that you can check out by clicking here.

Back to the original thought of who is the “best” vending locator or who you should choose to locate your machines:
It should be us. This sounds prideful to a degree and we understand that. At the end of the day, customer service and pricing speaks for itself. Give us a call or send us an email and see how quickly you get a response. Request 1 or 2 locations to start our with and see the way that we work for you. You will not want to use a different locator for any of your bulk machines after a trial run with us.

We both want our businesses to grow and we would love to have you as one of our clients. As your business grows larger and larger, you don’t have time to locate and we will continue to be there for all of your bulk locating needs. You will have more time to service machines and make more money from your bulk vending business.

Can you say win-win? We don’t just say it, we make it a reality. Give us a try for your bulk vending machine locations, we guarantee we won’t disappoint.

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The committee of tax-writing within the Vermont House has approved a new series of tax levies that specifically target candy, soda and vending machine sales.

This round of tax increases is expected to raise almost $9 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1 and nearly $12 million the year after that.

The House Ways and Means Committee votedto apply Vermont’s 6 percent sales tax to soda and candy for the first time. Sales from vending machines would be subject to the state’s 9 percent meals tax.

The Senate Finance Committee is working on its own package of tax changes, and the differences likely will have to be worked out in a legislative conference committee.

If you do own vending machines in Vermont, it would be a good idea to contact an official with tax knowledge to confirm how this affects your business. It is unclear if this will apply to bulk vending and quarter machines or just candy snack machines selling items over .50.

May 22, 2015

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Vending Locators. You can search far and wide but if you don’t know exactly what it is you are hoping to find, you will often find something less than what you desire. This is true when searching for a locator for your candy or gumball machine as well. You do not want the wrong company as your locator for a plethora of reasons, and you need to know what exactly it is you wish to find.

What Qualities Should I Look For In A Vending Locator?

This is your bulk vending business. Just that statement alone should tell you a lot about the search for the perfect bulk vending location finder. It is Your Business, and you wouldn’t want just anyone representing you. This is or will become your livelihood and that is the best way to approach this transaction. The second part of the statement above, Vending Business. This is a niche industry and that is important to the qualities we will be looking for in a good locator. The first gumball machine locator or candy machine locator quality/trait that we want to look for is:

Trust

This is Your Business, and without trust you have nothing. In your day to day life, you trust many people to provide certain services. Dry cleaners, mechanics, plumbers, and even co-workers in the workplace. Without trust you cannot have a productive business relationship with anyone. You should not have to worry about where your money is going and when your product or service will arrive. We accomplish this as a locator by providing our “No Money Up-Front” feature. You don’t pay anything until the location has been provided and you have placed your candy machine. We furthermore offer location replacement warranties that rival most other locating companies. As a locator, we strive to earn your trust and business. That’s why we also value:

Customer Service

If you are looking for a locator to place your machines, this is another quality that can often be overlooked. This quality can include fast response times and communication. If you are having an issue with a location or are looking for a status update, you should not have to wait a week before an email response is received. Within our company, emails are answered often within a few hours if not sooner. Alternatively you can always give Rodney a call for an even faster response. This is all part of the great customer service here at VendingLocator4u. You as the customer and client should be satisfied and overjoyed with the service that you receive. Quality locations are one thing, but the costumer service cannot be overlooked. We want to take care of you and we stress this quality if you look elsewhere for your locating needs. If other locator companies have let you down, turn to VendingLocator4u to restore your trust in the business. If you are taken care of and trust the company, you still should be looking for:

Promptness

Regardless of the number of machines you have ordered, you want to see a prompt return of locations. From speaking with our clients, we offer the fastest return of locations in the industry it would seem. If you try out other vending machine or gumball machine locators you will often see return times as far as a month or two out from your location request date. Unless the area is completely saturated and difficult to locate in, this is a ridiculous amount of time for you to have to wait. We work with you every step of the way and if there is difficulty locating in a particular area, we will ask for more zip codes or keep you updated on all progress. One last quality to be wary of, and we wish we didn’t have to say it:

Completion

There are actually gumball machine locating companies that will take your money and request for locations and not complete a job for months, if at all. Good luck getting your money back from them! This is a sad world to live in where some businesses cannot be trusted, but it does happen quite often. This is another reason that we accept no payment until the machine is placed. We don’t get paid, until you have a bulk candy vending machine on location! We do not do partial or incomplete jobs, we do the job that you ask us to do and that is find locations for your machines. Do not accept less than the best, try us out today!

You will be hard pressed, it’s actually impossible at the time of writing this article, to find a negative review for VendingLocator4u. Is this because we pay people for good reviews? Is it because there are so few reviews? No. This is a company where we take pride in our work and are not afraid to earn your business.

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We are pleased to announce that we have two different warranties on location as of today. This is great news because it allows us to offer you the amazing quality locations and the same great service, but at an even more affordable price. As far as vending locators go, after you use us and experience our quality service I doubt that you will go anywhere else. More than that, you now have the opportunity of even LOWER prices. Just for instance, if you need locations for a 1-3 headed gumball or candy machine our Silver Location Warranty lets these go at an unbeatable $45 per location. That’s a savings of around $100 per set of ten machines, and of course we still have no order minimum so you can order as many or as few locations as you need!

What is the difference between or two vending locator packages you might ask. This is a great question and is extremely simple to answer. With the Silver Location Warranty package,we have a kick-out replacement policy. This means that if the establishment kicks your machine out within 60 days we will replace that location. This is often a concern with charity vending machine placement, and we know you value this warranty often above the rest. With the Gold Location Warranty package, we have the kick-out replacement policy as well as an amazing general replacement policy. If you are unhappy with a few of your locations, we will actually replace up to 20% of your total locations ordered within 60-days. This gives you time to see how the machines are performing.

We hope this is great news for you. More affordable locations, quality service and as always… YOU PAY NOTHING UPFRONT for locations!

VendingLocator4U is the best vending locator in the country and we will continue to be there for you and your business. Every step of the way.

May 10, 2015

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This is the Location Sale You Do Not Want to Miss!

If you have been a client of ours in the past, you will already be familiar with our business model. You might know for instance that we put our vending business owners first, that’s you! You wanted a quality bulk vending locator to find you the very best locations at excellent prices, and we deliver this and more EVERY DAY! You might also remember that we are one of the only candy vending locators that require ZERO dollars upfront, every time. We do however have some exciting news, so hold on to your Vendstars and ProLines and take a seat…

Whether you are a previous customer of ours or extremely new to the bulk vending world, we have an offer to beat all others. Not only are we still NOT asking for a single penny upfront, we are reducing prices for a limited time. If you place a location order for a 1 to 3 head candy or gumball machine, we will deliver our quality locator services for only $45 dollars! That’s right, that is a $10 savings per location. If you order 10 locations, you will have saved $100 immediately. What’s more? This offer comes with a 60-day kick-out guarantee. If the location wants you out of there within 60 days of placement, we will replace the location free of charge.

For those who are unfamiliar with our services, our family has been in the vending industry for over a decade. This has resulted in years and years of experience running businesses just like yours. You need a quality locator to secure only the best locations for your bulk vending business. You have a full globe of candy or gumballs, now you just need a money-making location to place it in. This is where VendingLocator4U comes in. Let us find only the top quality and best locations for your machines. Place your order today before this special offer ends!

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Vending Business Tracking System

Here at VendingLocator4u, we are a vending machine locating service but we also run our own routes. This is important because you know that you can always draw on our wealth of knowledge in the industry. We have been running routes for over a decade and have learned a great deal in that time. One thing we know about is efficiency. Your business cannot run effectively if you are wasting time and money on a day to day basis. No business can survive in that way.

What is the easiest way to increase efficiency and profit within your bulk vending business? You mean besides letting us be your vending machine locator? A vending business tracking system. Analyzing, tracking, and monitoring your business are really some of the most important things you can do to keep yourself in profits. The primary reasons to use vending software is to track inventory of products, your assets, organize your route and map it for speed and for deciding what product will do best at each location.

While it is true that you could use a spreadsheet, there are a lot of issues that go along with that. We cover these on this page about Tracking Your Vending Business. The whole prospect of maintaining a spreadsheet to run your whole vending business just doesn’t cut the mustard.

VendSoft is the software we settled on. Check out THIS LINK for a list of features.

That really is an invaluable tool. Calculate commissions, profits and inventory. Know how much product you have in each machine, on your trucks or in your garage/warehouse at any given moment. You really can’t afford to be without this type of software in your vending routes and business life. You can even use their mobile application to access your business information via Android or iOS.

Use one of the links above or the link in the banner below for a FREE 14-day trial. It’s a great deal and worth a try. If it doesn’t benefit you and your business, cancel it and go back to the spreasheets but if you take the time to try it out… You won’t go back.

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What Are Honor Boxes?

We wanted to take a moment to cover the topic of “honor boxes” or “honor snack boxes”. There are many similar names for this, but the basic concept is the same. So what is a snack box and why would you want to get involved with such a thing? Let us explain:

An honor box, is basically a box filled with items meant to be bought on the honor system. This is completely different from say, a candy vending machine or a soda vending machine in that no money is REQUIRED for the customer to receive their snack or candy. The customer will walk into an establishment such as a restaurant or bank and see a box on the counter. The box is open with chips or candy resting in the top tray, along with a slot to deposit money.

The honor box or snack box can be made of different materials. Some are made in a disposable manner consisting of cardboard while others of a more durable sort will be common Plexiglas. There are various designs and layouts, big and small, but the idea is the same.

Theft From Honor Boxes?

The “honor system” is an interesting idea for some people to grasp. The immediate response is of course: “how can you make any money if anyone could just TAKE your product without paying!?” The answer really is: “You just do.”

Of course that is slightly in jest, the idea is quite so simple. In regard to theft or “shrinkage”, it will happen. It’s guaranteed to happen at any location. The key, as anyone in the business will tell you, is to keep an eye on each snack box location. This doesn’t mean via security camera or hidden spy devices, just a simple tally upon the end of each route-run. You will set an acceptable shrinkage percentage depending on the product in each honor box. If you notice that the level of shrinkage and theft are rising higher than your acceptable threshold, you will simply collect that box on the next route-run and find a new location!

One thing that has been discussed in a various threads on the topic of honor box theft, is that neighborhoods don’t seem to make a large difference. That is to say that a middle-class neighborhood or high-class estates should not see a significant difference in theft from your snack boxes.

A user from the above mentioned thread, AngryChris, posts:

Excellent example of simple economics here. We are in the business of making profits. I have an honor box location that sells only about 7 items per month but PAYS 100%. How much money do I make on this 0% shortage location? About $4/month. It’s not bad when you consider that I am in-and-out in about 5 minutes, but I wouldn’t mind pulling this location if it weren’t a block away from another location.

In contrast, the account that is a block away from that 0% shortage account has about a 35% shortage rate. However… they consume about 80 items/month. So.. even though I may only see $50 out of what should be $80, I probably make about $20/month from this location and it may consume about 30 minutes each month (I go every other week). So the one with 0% shortage makes $4 in 10 minutes, or about $24/hour… while the 35% shortage location makes about $20 in 30 minutes, or about $40/hour. It’s all about the profits! Oh… and I put my short-date items in that location because they buy them all anyway…

I would RATHER have HIGH-VOLUME locations with 30% shortage than low-volume locations with 0% shortage just because it takes a lot less work when you don’t have to check dates on chips… plus… the high-volume locations consume just about everything, including the cheaper-priced items.

You see? It’s not so much about the shrinkage at all. It is more about what products are selling where and how much is being bought as that will often override and make you want to change your allowable shrinkage percentage.

One added note on theft, if you use a charity with their stickers on the honor box, you will have a smaller percentage of theft in most cases. Some have even reported having more money than what they expected (less than 0% shrinkage – profit on top of expected profit). One great charity to contact is the NCCS, link to the NCCS Vending Program Here. If you can find a local charity to sponsor your boxes, even better.

Honor Box Locators

Our main advice is that even if you didn’t decide to use us as a locator, we recommend you use one. We have spent year after year perfecting out locating pitches for honor boxes and vending machines. We understand how time-consuming and stressful it can be. Check out that article linked above for more information on why you might want a vending locator.

An important excerpt from that article is this part about payment:

You Pay NOTHING Upfront

You pay nothing until the honor box is placed by yourself and accepted by the business. We do this to show our commitment to quality locations. The business owner or manager will be expecting you to show up with your brand new honor box or snack box. We confirm and qualify the locations for you. If for any reason there is an issue (really never happens), it will be solved. We will resolve any problem you might have quickly because we care.

So remember. If you want to save time, save your money (don’t pay anything until honor box is placed), and keep your business growing steadily: We are here for you. Click the button below to request services. If you want to see a quick video about our company and the way that we help you with you business – please CLICK HERE for more information.

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Vending Locators

Some will tell you there is no reason for this service, after all you could do it yourself. Right? Couldn’t you be your own locator for your own vending business? Why WASTE money on a service that you can provide for your own business?

Let’s think about that for a moment…

Is this really a waste? Let’s think about any other service you pay for. You might hire someone to mow your lawn, wash your car, groom your dog, fix your car, repair your roof, file your taxes, legalize your business with the state and possibly even design your website. These are all services that you either:

A. Don’t have time for
ORB. Don’t have the expertise and confidence to perform

Either way that ball rolls, you do pay for services all the time. The services you pay for bring you value either in saved time or more revenue down the line. Vending locators can actually do both. For instance, website designers often spend years honing their skills to a science. They understand every aspect of web design and do a great job.

You hire a web designer because you don’t have years to learn the skill. Furthermore, you don’t understand the complexity and nuance of designing a webpage. If you don’t have years, you hire a designer. Who do you think designed this website? Our vending route owners?

Hiring Vending Locators

When you hire vending locators such as VendingLocators4u, you have already made a GREAT business decision. Locators will save you time, allowing you to focus on other parts of your business. You do not need to spend weeks calling business after business trying to place your vending machine. In fact, that would be the only thing that could cause waste. Waste of your time and lost revenue for your business.

We take care of your locations so that you don’t have to. We ran our own vending routes for years and have been in the industry longer than that. During this time we have honed our skills as vending locators and impressed the community in the process. Just look at what our reviews say on our pricing page. You can also find reviews for us in the the Vendiscuss “Locating Discussion” forum section. If you visit Vendiscuss, take a look to see all of the other locators with negative reviews. We leave all of our customers with quality service and locations every time.

Vendinglocator4u.com is your source for quality locators. We understand your charity bulk vending business because we run our own routes and have for years. We work in the industry day after day and understand your unique needs as vending business owners. Vending locator companies need to be fast but efficient. We offer an amazing replacement policy if you are not satisfied with the location.

You Pay NOTHING Upfront

The best part? You pay nothing until the machine is placed by yourself and accepted by the business. We do this to show our commitment to quality locations. The business owner or manager actually will be expecting you to show up with your candy machine or shiny bright gumball machine. We confirm and qualify the locations for you. If for any reason there is an issue (really never happens), it will be solved. We will resolve any problem you might have quickly because we care.

So remember. If you want to save time, save your money (don’t pay anything until machine is placed), and keep your business growing steadily. We are here for you. Click the button below to request services.

Vending Locators – FOR YOU!
www.vendinglocator4u.com
“We Are Different – Let Us Show You How…”

We are the best when it comes to bulk vending locators.

If you don't trust us, simply see what others are saying!

"I found Rodney when I was at a very bad place financially and with our vending business.

Not only did Rodney help get us the locations we desperately needed, he has gone above and beyond to help me personally with staying positive, he's provided bulk distributors, resources for book keeping, how to get more efficient, ways to make the most of our machines, and things to do to keep the ball rolling in a positive direction.

I could go on forever and still wouldn't be able to say enough about what a great person Rodney is, what a change he's been to my business and life, and how glad I am we found him... I just wish it would've been years earlier!" ~Christina

"Me and Rodney were in contact for a short period of time before I decided to try him out. I started with a small order but changed it to 35 machines. The day after he pulled the list for my area I had 5 locations sent my way!

The best part about how family vending works is that I can place the machines before I pay! So if there is a problem, I can bring it to Rodney's attention right away and not have my money tied up until it is fixed.

He also offers a one time relocation of any machines where that location is a dud. Truthfully I was not to into the idea of paying someone to locate these machines and driving the money I have invested up but I am very glad I did. These guys have been fast, professional and on top of every email and I will continue to use them. Thank you so much Rodney and I hope that people see how good of a job you do through this." ~ A vendiscuss.net user from Maine

"Very refreshing telemarketer experience! I highly recommend he and his staff. I'm over 30 locations now with Family Vending and I am pleased with results!" ~ Eli

"Obtained some mint box locations for me and followed my request for restaurant locations. Drop off went smoothly and I placed all beside cash register. Thank you Rodney for providing good locating services!" ~ Vendor for over 8 years in North Carolina

"I've worked with 4 locators to date and Rodney is the only one I would recommend. He does everything over the phone and got us locations quickly. I don't know why it's so hard to find more people who locate who are as honest and hard working as he is but I wish all of my experiences were as good as the ones with him!" - A user from vendiscuss.net